


Awakened to Heartbreak

by Innocentbutnotbychoice



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, Legend of Korra and Mass Effect crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innocentbutnotbychoice/pseuds/Innocentbutnotbychoice
Summary: Trained as second in command to the pathfinder, Kuvira devoted her life to the position she doubt she'd ever leave. Even pushed away by her “family” to take up the role. When her commander dies during an attack, Kuvira is ready to put her training to the test but is surprised when the pathfinder's daughter, Korra is appointed pathfinder.
Relationships: Korra/Kuvira (Avatar)
Kudos: 17





	Awakened to Heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Korra is Pathfinder Sara  
> Kuvira is Cora

She is shocked. No, _broken_. And it is hard to break this hardened human commando. And she almost shows it. Almost.

She holds it in as they walk to SAM node where _she_ is being held. And she holds it in as they repeat the message.

"Isn't that Kuvira's job?"

 _It is._ She wants to growl out but doesn't. She allows her anger to build up and she leaves showing no hint of it.

On the tempest, alone in her quarters is where she finally releases it. She muffles her sobbing with her arm sleeve.

She just lost her pathfinder.

She just lost her position.

And she just lost her purpose.

* * *

"Pathfinder Korra" the Salarian, Tann greets her, ignoring the pathfinder's second in command who enters behind her. "The outpost on Eos has us hoping. You did well Korra"

_Pathfinder._

"I guess this is one bet that paid off." Korra says smugly.

"Point taken. Always revel in your victories."

Korra crossed her arms over her chest, "That's why I'm standing here."

Kuvira rolled her eyes. Korra was arrogant, she noted as she continued to get to know her CO, and she did not like arrogance. It was a trait she believed no pathfinder should have let alone anyone in command.

"Oh I never doubted you Korra, It was the others," Tann persuaded and with a glance at the pathfinders face, Korra wasn't buying it. "Deciphering the vault, alien terraforming.. it's not how we imagined this but a good Pathfinder improvises and a great one hangs it on the wall."

The many screens that decorated the large office flashed pictures of the new outpost on Planet Eos.

"Your success is the first one to grace Pathfinder hall. You're a symbol now Korra. A reason for people to believe."

"Oh, I'm just getting started." Korra gave Tann an elated grin and he gave her a small nod in return.

She must have forgot that she had an entire team at her side during the struggles of reaching said success. Kuvira bit her tongue.

Korra smiling in awe at the pictures, turns to the ignored Kuvira. Her smile bright as Kuvira's frown deepens.

Kuvira straightens as Korra approaches her. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's good to see _your_ success." Her attitude slips out in her tone and she briskly walks away to avoid confrontation.

* * *

"Is this going to be a problem, Kuvira?" Pathfinder Korra asks after they board the tempest and leave the Nexus.

She sends Korra a death glare and she so badly wants to take her on there. She wants a problem. To fight for what was rightfully hers. She trained years as second in command to one day become a pathfinder, even was pushed away by what she once considered family to pursue it, just to be once again pushed away.

But instead she sighs a tired sigh and says, "I don't want a rival. I'm here to continue your father's work and if that means under your command, I have no problem continuing." And they end it there.

* * *

She so badly wants to leave this ship. She wants to give up and let the pathfinder work this out on her own. But she doesn't. She clings on to the little hope that this is her purpose and they will find a home for the thousands of souls that drift in space.

* * *

She is appalled that she would openly flirt with her. And so bluntly. She quickly ends this with a:

"I'm not attracted to women, sorry."

Korra seems winded. A bit embarrassed as well. She clears her throat and apologizes.

"You just seemed...."

Kuvira raises a thick eyebrow.

"Ah nothing" Korra scratches the back of her neck. Then turns out the room.

* * *

Sometimes Kuvira purposely misses the kett on Korra's right or leaves Korra's side vulnerable just to see her in the medbay, sick to her stomach as Doctor Asami injects her with needles. It is the one thing that puts a smile on her face: seeing the discomfort and fear of the human pathfinder.

* * *

"We need to push forward!" Korra yells into the intercom.

"There're too many! We need to retreat!" Kuvira yells back. She's feeling the pressure of fighting, her limbs want to fall off.

"I said push forward." Korra turns to her, her voice stern.

"Aye Captain," Bolin says, running past and taking a shot at a kett.

Kuvira wants to say no, blatantly disregard her commander and leave her there to die. "I think it would be best if we retrea-"

"That's an order Kuvira, now go." Korra's face is hardened. Ever since she rejected her, Korra has been this way to her. Rude and commanding.

She pushes forward trying her best to protect Korra's side, but every time she moves towards her, Korra runs to take out more kett. Kett rounds shoot off at her and she ducks down. Korra runs off getting closer to the remnant. Kuvira nearly trips as she tries to push with her.

"Korra wait!"

She sees more Kett jump from a nearby ship. One aimed at Korra. She opens fire and shreds the Kett. Without hesitation, Korra keeps going.

Kuvira aims for another Kett when movement on her side causes her to turn sharply. Her eyes widen in horror. A Kett, arms length beside her with the barral pointed right at her head. She hears a sharp noise and she falls backward to the ground.

"Kuvira's down!" she can hear Bolin's scream from the intercom.

* * *

"I said we should've retreated" kuvira growled. She was lucky that her helmet had stopped the bullet. It was still buried in the side metal of her now useless helmet.

The whole ship watched in horror as their second in command and Pathfinder argued.

"Oh, sorry I thought you were supposed to be a Human Commando, weren't you trained by Asari Commandos or were you too weak and that's why they got rid of you?" Korra snapped.

Kuvira could feel the tears sting her eyes. She bit her lip and squeezed her fist. Anything to keep her from knocking the damn pathfinder out. She turned on her heel and walked to her chambers.

* * *

"Kuvira-"

"Don't."

"I didn't mean any of that I was just...."

"Just what?" She snarled.

"I was embarrassed ok. I made a bad call and you pointed it out in front of everybody"

"I could've died and you're thinking about how people see you!"

"It's not like that-"

"No it's exactly like that. You're too busy playing as a pathfinder instead of actually being one." Kuvira felt good as the words finally left her lips. "I don't know why your father even picked you."

She didn't care if it was a low blow. Her entire life has been filled with low blows and disappointments. It was time for someone else to feel it too.

* * *

They're all dining at the research and missions table since the kitchen is too small to fit them all and to Kuvira's surprise it's not a disaster.

Mako is being nice, Bolin isn't being annoying, and Asami has stopped sticking them with needles. As for Korra she's still the same self-cent-

"I want to make a toast." Korra stands clinking on her beer glass with a spoon.

Everyone stops and raises their glasses. Kuvira keeps hers planted on the table.

"I just wanted to thank Kuvira for basically saving and carrying our asses out of that mess. And to apologize for being an ass and putting you guys in danger."

Kuvira can feel her cheeks heat up and she hopes no one notices. She raises her glass and gives a quiet thank you with a small smile.

* * *

"Didn't know you had a thing for flowers"

Kuvira grinds her teeth at the sound of her voice.

_Don't you know how to knock._

"I like Roses is that a bad thing?"

"No, no" Korra raises her hands in defense. "Its a beautiful thing."

"I- thank you"

"I can already see your future. A beautiful white picket fenced house, a handsome husband, a few kids and bushes of flowers."

Kuvira actually chuckles. "Actually just the rose garden. I don't really see a family in my future. But a garden... that's all I want."

"Why you'd make a badass mom"

"I just....I don't want to- I'm not one to commit." She lies.

"Ha not one to commit but you've been on this ship for over four months with little success but you're still here. I'd say that's commitment."

"It is my job to be here"

"Yeah but I can tell this is more than a job to you. You're paving the road for a golden world"

"You mean you are."

"We are."

* * *

They're the only ones on the tempest as she tries to bandage Korra's bloody toe.

The medbay is usually off limits if Asami is gone but the two didn't want to ruin her one day of "fun" by bringing her back because Korra decided to be a dumbass and drop a 50 pound weight on her foot.

"Ow, that hurts"

"Oh be quiet" Kuvira chuckled but didn't pull as tight as she continued to wrap it.

"Hey it's your fault"

"How is it my fault that you came up with the great idea to try to juggle weights."

"Its your fault cause you didn't stop me."

"Yeah whatever." Kuvira chuckles.

They continue in comfortable silence. Korra sitting on the table and looking up at the ceiling while Kuvira, crouched below her, keeps bandaging her foot.

"You know its been awhile since I had a girl between my legs"

Kuvira is taken off guard but she laughs it off and turns her head to look up at Korra. There is lust in her bright blue eyes and Kuvira can feel a familiar almost forgotten throb between her legs.

* * *

Kuvira feels silly. Awkwardly shifts her weight on her feet. She wants to abort the meeting, tell her never mind but a bigger part of her wants to share this with someone. She doesn't want to start this on her own. She heard the hard crunch of boot on sand and turns slightly to see Pathfinder Korra approaching her. She gives Korra a smile in greeting.

"I want to show you something" Kuvira beckons Korra closer. A small box-shaped machine sat on the sandy ground before them. Korra cocks her head to the side in question.

"It's a soil converter, it could make sandy dirt into something more useful...... eventually" she tries to hide her excitement as she leads to the purpose of her coming there but a smile cracks through. "Add seeds, some rain and-"

"You get your garden" Korra says beating her to it.

"It'll take years, I might not even get to see it" she says sadly. She can feel her heart squeeze and tears at the edge of her eyes. She wants to speak, show she doesn't care, that she isn't weak and about to cry over nonexistent roses but she doesn't, she stays quiet as silent tears spill over and drip onto the sand.

Korra grabs her hand and squeezes it. The weight of her hand in hers makes her feel like she doesn't have to carry this weight on her own.

She isn't alone.

* * *

Kuvira is tired and after their failed mission on Havarl, wants nothing more than to sleep. She walks towards the ladder leading up to the second floor of the tempest when she hears the faintest sound of sniffles from behind the pathfinders quarters.

First she just ignores it. It's none of her damn business, if the Pathfinder wants to cry then she should be allowed to cry.

She knocks, hears the shifting of things and then a soft 'come in.'

The pathfinder gives her a small smile as she quickly wipes the evidence of tears away.

"What are you doing up so late?" She asks her looking away and chuckling. Kuvira wants to take the cue and back away. Korra doesn't want to talk, but something pushes her forward.

"I was actually just about to go to bed. I just wanted-" she stops her self, her cheeks going red. "Korra, I just wanted to let you know that everything you've done, as a friend, as the pathfinder has been amazing. You've opened doors for a new beginning. Don't be so hard on yourself."

Korra gives her a smile and surprises Kuvira when she walks over and hugs her.

Kuvira allows herself to hug the pathfinder back, gliding her hands up the pathfinders back. The Pathfinder lifts her head from her neck. Their eyes meet and then Korra kisses her.

* * *

The kiss has left them awkward every time they bump into each other. And after two weeks of simple hellos and Korra taking Mako and Bolin out to every mission, shes had enough.

She knocks on the pathfinder's door and enters. Korra has her back to her, a book in her hand.

"Mako, I swear if this is about Boli-" she stops.

"We need to talk"

"Um yeah..... sure" she places the book on her bed but instead of directing her attention on her she keeps her eye on the book.

"When you kissed me-"

"Yeah I'm sorry about that, I was just vulnerable and being stupid."

"It's ok," she doesn't know what to say. She came with a bunch of questions and now the only thing that comes to mind is silence. "I just wanted to say that... um, well" Kuvira breaths in hard, frustrated with herself. "I wanted to say that the kiss made me feel, as oddly as it sounds, like I was...... in a family."

Korra finally looks up at her, confusion plain on her face.

"It's like... I don't know how to explain it, I- My parents weren't in my life but before they abandoned me I- they would hold each other, kiss. It just made me feel like-" Kuvira took a deep breath trying to steady herself.

"Like you meant something."

She usually isn't this...... raw with people but something makes it hard for her not to open up to Korra. It's crazy how Korra seemed to always know what to say.

"I understand Kuvira, I'm sorry to hear that your parents would even do that to you" there was slight anger in her voice. "We're you're family now. You'll never feel abandoned again."

* * *

The cold is what brings them back together. Voeld. The ice planet that brought harsh winds and crippling weather brought something else as well--

Kuvira helped the limping Mako on board the tempest. She was unharmed. The same for Korra. Just freezing. Asami immediately took Mako into the medbay and ordered the girls to get into bed where they could warm up from the cold.

Kuvira didn't wait a second. She quickly undressed and slid under her covers and tried her best to warm up. Despite her trying she was still freezing. Her door slide open and she rolled over to ensure Asami that she was fine, except it wasn't the doctor but the pathfinder.

Korra got under her blanket.

"It's freezing." She grabs Kuvira's hand. "You're cold too."

Kuvira is still set on the fact that she just waltz in and laid in her bed. And then she does the unthinkable. She starts to undress.

"What are y-" Kuvira starts to ask her superior.

She tugs off her iconic white and blue shirt revealing a simple black bra and the upper shape of her breast. They were larger than hers and Kuvira had the overwhelming feeling to feel them in her hands.

"We need body heat" Korra ducked back under the covers and started shifting all over.

"What are you doing now" Kuvira said her teeth clinching from the cold.

She came back up her ponytail fizzed from the static of the covers. "Come here."

"Why?"

"Just come here" Korra placed her hand on her waist. Her hands were cold and she gave a small yelp.

Korra seemed slightly un-phased but it didn't surprise her seeing that she used to live in the north pole on Earth.

A naked cold leg brushed against hers and she realizes the reason of Korra's prior thrashing under the covers.

Korra scooted almost cautiously towards her. Stoping just close enough for her to feel the heat of her breath.

She subconsciously moved towards the heat. Their chests meeting. Their lips inches apart but Kuvira didn't move back, she instead stared at Korra's lovely plump, brown lips.

It seemed like hours of them staring at each other before Korra captured her lips. Kuvira closes her eyes and Korra takes in her lips again this time more passionately. Their lips lock and Kuvira can feel her body warming up. She barley notices the cold when Korra pushes the covers back from their shoulder and places a warm hand to her cheek to deepen the kiss.

Korra pulled her in closer and she laid her head on her chest, drifting into a peaceful sleep.

\--Feelings.

* * *

"What was that about..... yesterday I mean," Kuvira asked. It was just her and Korra in the small kitchen. Korra seated at the small table as she looked in the cabinet.

"Oh I was just showing you a tradition the South Pole use to build warmth."

She took a peek at Korra. Her eyes were set on a book in her hand and in the other she took a sip of her drink.

"I thought you were trying to have sex with me," she tries to laugh causally but it comes off robotic.

"We don't have sex but kissing and touching does it to excite the body and brings warmth faster." Korra still did not look at her. She was oddly calm about the whole situation while Kuvira was a fumbling mess.

"That's all... I mean..."

"Yeah I know you don't like women so,... I'm sorry though about doing that"

"Oh no it was fine. It worked, I mean."

* * *

She laid almost lifelessly on the ground. Nose bleeding and head ringing.

Despite the loud ringing a voice pierces through. Screaming her name. She smiles as she drifts off into darkness a name silently falling from her tongue.

Kuvira.

* * *

She never thought they would actually win. The blearing cheers and lifeless kett still haven't fully sunk in. Even the pass few hours feel like a dream. All she can do is walk. She doesn't even know where she is going. _Walk_. Her brain is screaming and she doesn't know why. It's just a piercing scream, her own voice screaming for something or someone. Her world is spinning as she continues to walk. She can no longer hear the cheers. It's just screaming and then she sees her and the world goes silent.

Korra.

Mako and Bolin are carrying her in. Blood leaks from her lip and her hand is tight around her midsection. She stands on her own her eyes locked on Kuvira's. People run over to her and Mako and Bolin turn to stop them. Korra opens her mouth to say something.

She can't breath when Korra slams to the ground.

* * *

"Kuvira, Kuvira?" 

She is awakened to a bight light and heartbreak. "Korra! Where's Korra!?"

She doesn't even take the time to process where she is before she jumps up and starts to run. Someone calls out for her to stop but she just runs.

The tempest. She's on the tempest and she runs straight for the pathfinder's chambers. 

"Kuvira, Doctor Asami requests you to return to the medbay." Sam's voice says through the intercom.

"Open the door, Sam." 

"I cannot open the pathfinders door for you Kuvira, please return t-"

"Please Sam, I need to see her, I need to know if K-"

"Kuvira"

She had never spun around so quickly in her life. Never had she ever been so happy to hear a voice, to see those blue eyes. 

"Korra! I thought-" She tries to hold it back, as best she can but the tears still pour through. She can't speak. All she can do is walk up to her and hug her. She holds her tight and cries harder when Korra squeezes her back.

* * *

"You fainted" Bolin chuckled. Kuvira glared at the annoying boy.

"After Korra fainted you passed out as well Kuvira" Doctor Asami said. "You were walking like..."

"Like a zombie." Bolin interrupted her.

"I was going to say as if you were in a trance." Asami rolls her eyes, "After we split up to find Korra, Mako said you started acting weird. Do you remember anything that happened after we split up?" 

"I- No I don't." 

"Awe the love bird couldn't function without her master" Bolin started to laugh, even Mako started to chuckle. 

Both Kuvira and Asami sent a glare towards him. 

"Kuvira-" Asami started.

"I'm going to go check on Korra" She stood up and turned to leave. 

"Kuvira, Korra almost died. Go easy on her okay." Asami said her tone soft and full with worry.

"I'm not going to yell at her." Kuvira reassured.

* * *

"Kuvira-" Korra's head snaps slightly to the side. Kuvira's hand stinging. Korra's eyes are filled with bewilderment before anger darkens those beautiful blue eyes.

"Don't you ever do that again."

"What save the world," there is anger in her tone.

"No, you can save the world whenever you want. Never try to do it alone." She crosses her arms and Korra's features soften. 

There is a swirling fear in her heart, one that hasn’t stopped since it began after that scream through their radio. She just wants to hold Korra, make sure she really is there and that she never pulls a stupid stunt like that again. 

She never wants to feel heartache like that again. It felt like someone had pulled her heart out and began brutally stabbing it, and she could do nothing about it. Korra was dead. She had died. She remembered hearing Bolin screaming for Asami through the intercom. Pleading for her to tell him what to do. 

"I'm sorry." Korra moves closer and grabs one of her hands. "I'll never push on my own again." She gives a small smile.

Kuvira intertwines their hands. "You promise?"

Their lips draw closer before pressing against each other firmly. 

"I promise."

The End.


End file.
